Business and City in Brief

Action likely on Latham report

The Government may bring forward legislation in 1995/6 for changes in the construction industry aimed at reducing friction between companies and clients.

The Latham report on the industry, published last week, called for a bill supporting the right to adjudication in case of disputes and ensuring that contractors and sub-contractors were always paid for work done.

High water mark

William Courtney, chairman of Southern Water, received salary of pounds 215,000 last year, up pounds 15,000. The company topped up the board of directors' pension schemes by a total of pounds 240,000, thought to be to keep pace with their pay rises the previous year.

Big bonus

Peter Kindersley, chairman and chief executive of Dorling Kindersley, the publisher, will sell up to 950,000 shares in the company - 1.5 per cent of the equity - to a group of about 20 staff at 16p per share. The shares are now at 290p.

USAir offer

The pilots union at USAir announced yesterday that it is willing to offer wage cuts worth dollars 750m over five years, in return for an equity stake or profit share in the carrier. USAir, in which British Airways has a 24 per cent stake, has said that it needs to lower its cost base to ward off competition from low- cost carriers.

TV profits

Capital Cities ABC, the US broadcasting and publishing group which owns the ABC television network, yesterday reported better-than-expected profits of dollars 189m for the second quarter, up from dollars 151m in the same quarter last year. Revenues rose from dollars 1.44bn to dollars 1.54bn.

Taking his seat

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is to take up the seat on the Bank for International Settlements' board reserved for the US central bank from September.

Publishing deal

Euromoney Publications is to buy a 67 per cent interest in the British publishing firm Raven Fox for pounds 7m. Raven Fox publishes Duty Free News International and Travel Retailer International. Last year it made pre- tax profit of pounds 654,000 and net assets were pounds 884,000.

On the buses

Transportation Displays of the US, in partnership with Hambros Plc, has bought the advertising rights for London buses, trains and Underground stations from the London Transport Authority.

World Markets

New York: A firmer bond market offset some disappointing corporate earnings, leaving shares mixed. By the close the Dow Jones average had risen 6.8 points to 3,741.84.

Tokyo: Profit-taking by foreign investors helped to pull the Nikkei average down 165.23 points to close at 20,297.66.

Hong Kong: Tight-range trading ahead of a government land auction took the Hang Seng index up 21.63 points to 9,174.62.

Sydney: With most investors sitting on the fence, the All Ordinaries index eased 4.2 to 2,048.3.

Bombay: In dull trade the index edged up 3.3 points to 4,106.65.

Johannesburg: Late support for industrials helped to lift the overall index 19 points to 5,568.

Frankfurt: Consolidating after recent gains, the DAX index slipped 14.04 points to 2,136.22.

Paris: The account opened cautiously, with the CAC-40 index adding 18.43 points to 2,059.84.

Zurich: Gains in drug stocks and selected industrials held the SPI to 1,719.63, down just 0.49.

London: Report, page 24.